Friday, November 2, 2012

Blog 10: Widows, India's Other "Untouchables"


                In India being a female is pretty difficult. Females in Indian society have little to no value compared to men in their culture. I used to think that nothing could be worse than this, to essentially be viewed as nothing. I found out that I was wrong and that there is something worse than being a female in India. You could be a widow. The article I read detailed the struggles Indian widows face often times for years after their husbands deaths. Sometimes after a woman’s husband dies, her husband’s family might take her in. Perhaps her brother in-law might remarry her. Marrying a widow is not considered to bring fortune because not too long ago, women who’s husband’s had perished suffered the superstition of causing their husbands deaths. Even when a woman is taken in by family members neither she nor her children are guaranteed safe haven. Some women are subjugated to abuse at the hands of their husband’s family and/ or are forced out of their homes. A woman in the article who went by the name Goswami was banished from her city by her mother, in an effort to “keep the peace”. Also some of these exiles take place to prevent women from inheriting anything their husband might have left for them. In a lot of cases these women have no way of providing for themselves or their children which is one reason why they may be rejected by their loved ones. The city the women go to is a sacred city known as Vrindavan. A widow who moved to Vrindavan was supposed to move there to reflect on and mourn the loss of her husband. Widows of Vrindavan were to give up luxuries and just focus on remembering their husbands. The living conditions of Vrindavan are less than ideal. The widows are given a government provided monthly allotment of 6 dollars which is definitely not enough to support one person. Some women turn to begging for money or meals by chanting for long hours. There has been push for a change in this way of living for widows but so far not much has been done to solve the continuing solution. One of the women believes she would have been better off committing “sardi”, a suicide involving throwing oneself atop a spouse’s funeral pyre, than she is living in the city for widows. I think that it is definitely a sad state for widows in India but I’m not sure if there could be a quick change in the way widows are treatment. A lot of the mistreatment is deeply rooted in long held superstitions and social norms. 

No comments:

Post a Comment